Archive for August, 2008

Today, my son, Sam, began his first day of school in the last year in our home. He has aspirations to complete his college degree in an area that involves communication and writing. He is a gifted song-writer and musician, and he has a heart that is bent towards using his giftedness in some sort of way to impact the world for the Glory of God. We are thrilled by the evidences of grace in his life and can’t wait to see what the Lord will do in and through him.

I am not bragging, but you need to know this so that the following conversation, reported to me by my wife, Kim, will make sense. The others involved in the conversation would be considered mature Christians.

“So what are Sam’s plans for the future?”Kim, “He wants to finish a degree in communications or writing with the idea of doing some sort of ministry.”“There’s no money in that!”Kim, “Well, he is more concerned about doing what God has called him to do than he is about making money.”“Has he ever thought about becoming a plumber? Plumbers make real good money.”

First, you need to understand that one of my greatest failures as a dad has been to fail to include Sam in manual labor around the house. As a result, if I send him to get me a wrench, I would have to describe how it is different than a pliers. The idea that he would end up in any sort of mechanical occupation is less likely than me ending up in the NBA. There is nothing wrong with blue-collar occupations and God actually CALLS people to be skilled in working with their hands, (see Ex. 35:30-36:1) but I can tell you with great certainty that it is not SAM’S calling!

Second, there is a worldview issue here that is astonishing. That mature Christians would be driven in guiding young people to make career decisions based nearly exclusively on money and material possessions speaks volumes about the state of the church in America today. Have we fallen so far in our idolatrous worship of material possessions that we cannot see the extent to which it is effecting us?

As we consider the God-ordained task of raising children, we need to define success correctly. For me, I would rather have my children living in a card-board box under a bridge somewhere if they are walking faithfully with Jesus, than to have them achieve great success in their education, career, standard of living, and all other endeavors — only to forsake Jesus. If they were to achieve everything their hearts could desire in this world, but do not love Jesus, I would be heart-broken.

How would you respond to a conversation like this? What are your goals for using your life and investing in the next generation? Post your thoughts and join the discussion.